Bunq, the $1.8 billion European neobank, hopes to secure license for UK expansion this year

PARIS — Dutch digital bank Bunq is hoping it will manage to secure a banking license from U.K. financial regulators later this year or early next year, the firm’s CEO and founder Ali Niknam told CNBC.

“I hope we’ll get somewhere by the end of the year, maybe early next year, because the U.K.’s processes may be slightly different to Europe because it’s a different regulatory area,” Niknam said in an interview last week at the Viva Tech conference in Paris.

“I don’t know when they’re going to say yes, but so far I have little reason to believe that we won’t be successful.”

Bunq, known for its rainbow-colored cards and a focus on so-called “digital nomads” not bound by any one country or location, initially launched in the U.K. in 2019. But the bank was forced to exit the country in late 2020 because of Brexit.

Source: CNBC